


Welcome back

by Dirt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Death, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Welcome Back, sorryyy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10085741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dirt/pseuds/Dirt
Summary: Keith looked up and smiled sadly at the boy with tired eyes in the doorway."Welcome back."





	

**Author's Note:**

> So many stories I want to start and finish, (I will finish my other one) this is based of off a pic I saw, I'll put the source at the end. Also warning I guess, this might be sad. Final edit, I'm pretty sure I got everything. Feel free to leave a comment or a kudos. ;)

おかえり - OKAERI 

Japanese. An expression meaning 'Welcome back', used for people close to you.

* * *

 

After tossing and turning for what felt like several hours he sighed and finally relented and turned onto his back, he blinked and stared up at the dark ceiling. These days sleep seemed impossible to find, so most nights Keith found himself lying awake staring at the dark walls of the room until the sun in the window finally turned them bright again. 

When the sun rose bright enough that Keith was pretty sure it was early afternoon by now, he forced himself to get up. He sat at the edge of the bed and gripped his knees and stared at his feet then heaved a big sigh and stood up. He was doing that an awful lot lately, sighing.

He padded his way towards the kitchen and gave a big yawn despite the sleepless night he didn't feel too tired today he more just felt drained. Keith felt like his bones were weighing him down and it was using up a lot of his energy just to get from one room to the next. He wanted to go back to bed but he had a feeling that no amount of sleep would make him feel any less tired, no he had to get up and do something, he had spent too long doing nothing. As he walked to into the messy kitchen he frowned, was it this messy yesterday? Oh! He was supposed to clean up a while ago. Keith frowned and stared at the piles of slightly dirty dishes in the sink that he had half cleaned in a hurry before leaving the house, he should have just cleaned them properly so he wouldn't have to do the rest now. Actually he's going to do them later, there really is a lot of plate. In fact is there any plates left.

Keith went about the kitchen searching for a decent plate, when he finally found several he realised that he didn't actually feel that hungry right now. The thought of forcing himself to eat something didn't really appeal to him earthier. Coffee it is then. He made his way to the old coffee machine and stifled a yawn.

How long had it been now since he had a good nights rest? Too long judging by the calendar that was hung up on the wall showing the wrong date.

The coffee machine started working and he reached up to the press to grab a cup, hoping he still had some clean ones left. The machine bubbled silently as he place the blue cup down beside it on the counter. He froze, the blue cup wasn't his one.

Lance, it was Lance's cup and he hated Keith using it because he was certain that he would get coffee stains all over it, which Keith thought was ridiculous but Lance was always instant that he couldn't use this cup. He put it back in the press and grabbed another one. As much as he loved winding Lance up he didn't actually want to mess his stuff up. Also the cup was a present from his mom on her last visit (along with several other plates and bowls because she thought it was ridiculous to only have 5 plates and no bowls.)

Speaking of Lance, he would be back soon. Keith glanced over to the front door of the apartment that could be seen from the kitchen counter. It had been weeks now since Keith last saw Lance and he would be lying if he said he didn't miss him a lot. The mornings were too quiet without Lance telling him about his strange dreams or bad jokes he had just thought up of. He missed Lance waking him up in the morning when he overslept or getting grumpy when Keith pushed him off the bed for waking him up. But, Lance would be back soon, he was positive.

 Keith found himself sighing again and he focused on the coffee machine as he tried not to think to much. 

When the coffee was finally made he brought it over to the sofa and sat down. The apartment was eerily quiet now without the hum of the machine or the chirp of those annoying birds outside that would always start up in the morning and it was definitely the afternoon now. He placed the hot cup on the table trying to avoid the clutter spread out on it. This place really was a mess. There were several books and magazines that they had been meaning to read as well as a bunch of pens and crumpled up pieces of paper. Lances textbook was still open on the edge of the table, it looked like the astro physics book that he also had a copy of. He had fond memories of that class, many of them starring Lance. 

He had met Lance for the first time on his first day of collage. He had been an awkward 19 year old that didn't know their way around campus and found himself getting lost on the way to an astro physics lecture. Of course he bumped into Lance, an equally lost 19 year old but refused to admit it. The only way they found where to go was when Keith's friend Shiro came across them bickering in a hallway about which way to go, he seemed amused by this and gave them the wrong direction, Keith still hasn't forgiving him. That began their so called 'rivalry' in class as Lance liked to call it, but it only took Lance 3 weeks to stop pigtail pulling and finally ask Keith out. Pidge had bets on 5 weeks, Hunk's was 6 weeks. After that Keith's life changed, he got knew friends and found himself opening up for the first time in years, he found a place where he belonged. That nearly two years ago. 

Keith thought back on their first weeks (of many) acting like idiots around each other and for the first time in ages he felt himself drifting off to sleep.

 

-

 

"Agh!"

 

Keith looked up from his half-hearted attempt of washing dishes over to the frustrated noise that had come from across the room. 

"What's up?" He asked.

"I just don't get it, it's not going into my head and I know you've explained it before to me." Lance sighed loudly, resting his head in his hand and looking at his book. His face was scrunched up in a way that Keith knew meant that he really was frustrated and probably on the verge of tears. He put down the plate he was washing and made his way over to his boyfriend. Lance looked up at him with a frown.

"Come on, you've been studying non-stop for days now, let's go out just for a drive or something it doesn't have to be too long. I think we both need to get out of the house." Keith asked. He hated seeing Lance like this, there where many days where he would go over one thing until it was basically letters swimming on a page and he found himself understanding less which would result in Lance thinking he was no good at whatever he was doing and Keith knew that was untrue. Also with the stress of upcoming exams and both of them on jobs with early hours, they both needed to get out and clear their heads.

"Yeh, your right, ok just for a bit." Lance sighed and stood up. Keith grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug, he felt Lance give a content sigh and he pressed his face into the crook of Keith's neck. He wrapped his arms around his stressed boyfriend and held him. One of the many things Keith found out with Lance was that he really liked hugging people, especially Lance. He held on for a few more minutes and they both stood there until Keith finally pulled back.

"Ready? I'm sure it will make more sense once you've cleared your head." He said and Lance nodded and they made their way out.

When they got in the car and started to drive Lance looked to him with a curious expression on his face.

"Did you finish the dishes?" He asked him and Keith pursed his lips like his was thinking. Lance rolled his eyes at his boyfriend.

"Um..." He replied.

"Keith, come on, we had an agreement." Lance groaned out but Keith could spot a faint smile from the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, and that agreement is that I half clean the dishes, which I did, and you clean the other half, that's only fair since we're both using them." Keith pointed out and Lance shook his head.

"No your supposed to clean half of the dishes not only half clean all of them." Lance said. Keith knew this but he just hated doing the dishes and he knew it annoyed Lance to see them half done. 

"I'll remember next time."

The car got quiet again as they drove down the road that led to the big open one that they both liked to drive down and watch the view, it was relaxing. The silence was comfortable as Lance stared out the window and Keith watched the road.

"What if I'm just wasting my time trying this hard." Lance said quietly to Keith but didn't turn his head. Keith frowned, he didn't like when Lance started talking like this but he was glad that they had gotten to the stage where Lance stopped bottling these thoughts up and was telling Keith and vice versa.

"You're going to be amazing Lance." Keith said honestly, and he truly believed that, he had seen what Lance was capable of. 

"But-" Lance began but Keith cut him off.

"No, nope. You know how amazing you can be and I tell you a million times if you need me too. Your wrong to doubt yourself cause your one of the best people I know." Keith said feeling his cheeks heat up at his honesty, but he would tell Lance as many times as he needed to hear how good he was.

"Ok, ok, I get it, thank you." Lance said with a smile and Keith smiled a satisfied smile and nodded. Then after a quiet moment Lance spoke up again.

"You too." Keith looked over to him to see a boy with a smile like the sun, he was starstruck. It wasn't the first time he felt Lance had taken his breath away with his smile alone and it wouldn't be the last. He had made it a personal goal after the first time to do anything to get Lance to smile at him like that as many times as he could and he had found in the while they had been together the other boy smiled like that a lot more. So did Keith. The setting light reflected on the other boy's face and showed off his smattering of freckles over his nose. Keith had tried many times to count them but he swore Lance got new freckles every single day. He loved them.

Taking his eyes off the road he stared at Lance and was not for the first time struck with the thought that, he loved this boy, he loved everything he did he even loved when he was annoying. Keith felt lucky.

"Your going to be great too. Let's be great together." Lance said and Keith felt himself smiling widely. Then suddenly Lance's eyes widened and his smile dropped immediately.

"Keith! Look out!"

 

-

 

Keith blinked awake to the darkness of the empty apartment. It felt colder now. The dream had shaken him up. He clenches his fists and squeezed his eyes shut but the unwanted memories of the rest of that night entered his mind. The red, the fear, the terrified eyes. He wishes he didn't see them so vividly. He wishes they would just go away and maybe he could finally sleep.

He was taken from his memories at the nearly deafening sound of keys in the door. He whipped his head toward the door to see it swing open. 

And there he was, the boy Keith hadn't seen since that day. A rush of emotion went through him and he felt instantly better at seeing him, it had been so long. It had been weeks but faded bruises still littered visible the tanned skin, several bandages were wrapped around the boy and Keith knew that there were several more underneath his clothes that hid what in the future would be harsh looking scars. He looked drained and dead on his feet.

Keith looked up and smiled sadly at the boy with tired eyes in the doorway.

"Welcome back." He said.

He watched as the boy closed the door and made his way to the bedroom silently. Keith stood to follow but decided better and found himself standing nervously waiting for Lance to reappear. He couldn't help feeling slightly paranoid that the boy would vanish again and leave him on his own again. 

Lance came out of the room rubbing his face, he then stopped in the middle of the apartment. A blank expression on his face as he stood there and took in a shaky breath. He stood there frozen for a full minute before making his way to the dark kitchen, no lights had been turned on.

"The-the dishes, I need to do them." He muttered to himself and Keith was struck by the lack of emotion in his voice. Keith followed him over to the sink where Lance had began scrubbing dishes with shaky hands. Keith frowned.

"Don't cry, don't cry." Lance whispered to himself but Keith could already see drops spilling into the sink below. Lance shook and dropped the plate and put his hand over his eyes, letting out a quiet sob.  Keith felt a lump form in his throat and his own tears spill over his eyelashes.

He walked over behind Lance wrapped his arms around his shaking shoulders, the other didn't even flinch when his arms went around him. He let himself cry with the other.

"Welcome back." He whispered shakily into Lances ear.

The other boy didn't even notice him.

 

 

 

-

[Based off this picture](http://daifei.tumblr.com/post/157603140054/welcome-home-part-1)

My tumblr if you want to shout at me, [space-pal](https://space-pal.tumblr.com/)

 


End file.
